First encounter
by Tennoda
Summary: Dawn meets Barricade and Starscream. Barricade and Starscream meet a human who has the power to control metal.
1. Meet Starscream

This one's a really old one. I wrote this some time after the first Bay Transformers movie came out. xP

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers and don't get any money from this.

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Dawn was having the worst day of her life.

If anyone had disagreed, she would have simply pointed to the giant robot towering over her, staring at her with it's flaming red optics.

But for obvious reasons, no-one was there to contradict her, since most of the people around her were busy running anywhere that wasn't in the way of the malevolent robot. That is, everyone who wasn't already injured or killed.

The walls in the café she had a moment ago unsuspectingly walked into, were crumbling and a large part of the roof had been torn off or had collapsed where the robots had made their entrance.

There were two of them as far as she knew and they were after something, or rather someone. She found that out by being in the wrong place, in the wrong time. She was trying to help an elderly, well-dressed man, who had been hit with the falling debris, when she saw one of the robots fix it's gaze on them.

"Target acquired. Go after the other one."

The other robot left, and the one watching them, started coming closer. It was huge, with what looked like wings on it's back, breaking what was left of the walls and furniture as it approached. It was terrifying, and the old man began whimpering in panic.

"I did everything as agreed, why are you doing this?"

The winged robot grinned slyly. "You're coming with us, measly human. Megatron has other use for you."

Dawn didn't like that robot. Not only had it caused horrible destruction, it also seemed to be quite arrogant. Had she been like any other human, she would've been unable to do anything.

But Dawn wasn't like any other human.

She stepped in front of the injured man, blocking the robot's way. It stopped not far from her, confused by the reaction that was the complete opposite of what humans normally had. It brought it's head down to observe her closer.

"And what do you think you're doing, little fleshling?"

Dawn struggled to keep her cool while the nightmarish thing examined her. When they had suddenly attacked, she had been as freaked out as everyone else, but her strong sense of moral had told her she couldn't just run and leave the helpless man to these monsters. Not when she was the only one who could fight back.

The only human who could control metal with her mind. Like the metal in those robots.

She was still scared. She had never tried her powers on something that big, and those things meant business. They were like nothing she had ever seen, out of this world.

Coincidentally, she had no idea how right she was about that.

"I'm telling you and your robot buddy to leave us be and go back to wherever it is you came from."

At first her answer left the robot speechless, then it let out an amused chuckle and finally started to bark with laughter, standing up to its full height and shaking its head.

"I don't believe this", it kept laughing like it had heard the world's funniest joke. "Barricade, you have to see this crazy fleshling."

Then it took a mocking tone and brought its hand closer to Dawn, lightly flicking her with one metal digit to force her to take a step back. "So what is it you're going to do, little insect? Do tell, I'd like to know."

Dawn had been right. It, or he, she wasn't sure, was arrogant. It suited her fine, since it only made it easier to do what she was about to do.

"How about something like _this_!"

The other robot named Barricade came back just in time to witness the first one fall flat on his back, for no visible reason.

"Starscream, what are you doing? We came here to do a job, stop messing around."

Dawn quickly turned back and helped the man up. "You have to get out of here, can you make it on your own?"

The old man looked at her with his mouth open in astonishment. "W-what are you? How did you do that?"

She felt a twinge of anger from the insulting question, but ignored it for now. "Look, that's not important right now, can you get out on your own or not?"

The man looked behind her, at the pissed off robot that was getting up as they spoke and his eyes got wider if possible. "Y-yes, I... I think so."

"Then you'd better go _now_ ", Dawn stated dead serious, seeing a shadow of the creature called Starscream coming closer.

The man started backing away, reaching for anything to support him. Dawn turned around, determined to win the man enough time to escape.

"You pathetic… insect!" The winged robot growled. With one big step he was in front of her. Dawn used her powers to throw him back again, put this time she only managed to push him back a few steps.

Starscream gave her a smug grin. "Running out of power already, little girl? Too bad for you."

Dawn hesitated, but not for long. If she wasn't yet accustomed to moving something that big, she would have to use something she could move. Lifting both arms in front of her, she concentrated on the broken support pillars on the other side of the café. Two of them lifted behind the unsuspecting robot.

Barricade was standing further back, holding some unfortunate human in an iron grip, watching the events, but clearly not caring enough to help his comrade. "I think you might be underestimating this one, Starscream."

Starscream glanced back, noticing the levitating pillars right when one of them came sideways and hit him hard. Dawn ran out of the robot's way and swung her hand, sending the other one to the same address. Starscream went down with a crash, again.

Dawn looked at Barricade, ready to defend herself from his attack, but the giant robot wasn't moving. On top of that, seeing the woman watching him carefully, he simply shrugged. "I've got what I came for, if he screws up, it's his problem.

Dawn raised a questioning brow, but had no time to ponder if he was telling the truth and really going to do nothing. Starscream grabbed the pillar that had knocked him down and threw it back at her. She had too little time to stop it, so she ducked and changed it's course so it went over her, hitting a wall behind her instead.

Right then it became clear to her, as she stared at the rubble and broken glass on the ground, that she was actually engaged in a life or death battle. She had to wonder how come she wasn't petrified with fear, it wasn't like she had done this before. Maybe it was the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, silencing all the surrounding sounds and making everything look like slow-motion.

"You pestilent human, how dare you oppose the Decepticons!"

Dawn smirked at the enraged robot. "Never heard of you, but if the rest of your _Decepticons_ fight as well as you, I'm not worried."

They heard Barricade laughing. Starscream practically shot daggers out of his optics at him. "I'm glad you find this situation so amusing, Barricade. Perhaps you want to be the one to explain to lord Megatron why the other human is getting away as we speak."

Dawn was backing away as they spoke, trying her luck at sneaking away. She inched her way slowly further as Barricade sighed and rolled his optics.

"You are the one who's pathetic. Here."

With one swift move, Barricade raised his blaster and aimed at Dawn. She took a sharp breath and dashed aside when the blast came, scorching her as it went by. She hit the ground as the world exploded and everything started breaking to pieces around her.

The two Decepticons watched as the woman was buried under falling debris. After everything had quieted again, they could hear the sound of sirens approaching. Barricade turned and walked out of the remains of the building, with grumpy Starscream following him.

Barricade searched their surroundings. "The human can't have gotten far, we'll find him."

Starscream didn't say anything. He just wanted to get this mission over with and then start to think how to explain his new dents to Megatron. He was sure that Barricade would be more than happy to share his version with their leader.

Hmph, like he had done anything before that shot. He hadn't been the one pummeled with metal pillars, easy for him to stand there away from the line of fire. Starscream would make sure he wasn't going to look like a fool when they would give their report.

Dawn opened her eyes.

She felt disorientated. Her eyes started watering and her mouth was full of dust. She coughed and tried to focus her gaze on her surroundings. She was facing the floor and saw broken bricks and other kind of debris all over her, as well as felt it on top of her.

She remembered what had happened. What she didn't know, was how she hadn't been crushed.

She began moving slowly, afraid something could still come down on her if she wasn't careful. She turned on her back and saw that she was laying in a small air pocket that had saved her. A pillar had bent over her and blocked the biggest pieces of the wall.

Dawn began to feel the pain from the explosion that had burned her and from the debris that had hit her, but she was still too out of it to experience it completely. She would've wanted to know, how exactly the pillar had bent over her, because she didn't remember doing that.

At least she hadn't thought about doing that. Though, she couldn't count out the chance that it had been some kind of a reflex. After all, she had never before this tested her powers in a real life threatening situation.

Whatever it was, she would now have to get out. Dawn decided to try something that might keep her from getting crushed. She lifted her hands against the pillar, with fingers spread and concentrated on it. Slowly she moved her hands apart, making the metal stretch. She kept stretching it until she had a wide metal plate. She hoped it would endure and pushed it with her powers, and with it, the wall up and out of the way. Some rubble still fell on her, but it was too good to get out of there to care.

Dawn climbed over a pile of rocks and stood up shakily. The ruins of the empty café looked like a battlefield. There were no signs of the Decepticons, only the destruction they had left behind.

What were they, where had they come from and why had they been after those men? She might never find out and it frustrated her. She wouldn't give up yet, though. She could experiment with her powers, train herself. If by any chance she would come across more giant robots, she would be ready to stop them.


	2. Meet Optimus

Look what I found! Another old story I thought I had posted here ages ago, when I really hadn't. Whoops. This one isn't going to turn into a series, but if you want more Dawn, I just started "Light of Dawn", which is going to be a long story.

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What luck. What luck! Why did she keep getting herself in these situations?

Dawn would have never thought that in such a big city she would bump into any giant robots again, but there she was, running for her life, trying to find someplace to hide.

She had only met two of those robots before and of course the one who had a grudge against her was the one she had come across. Starscream, she hadn't forgotten the name.

It had been nearly the same situation as the last time. Dawn had taken a shortcut home one evening, accidentally found a robot having a menacing conversation with some wealthy looking man and decided that she had to do something to ruin the robot's day.

The difference being that this time she hadn't been seen yet. As far as the robots were concerned, she had died when the café had collapsed and she wanted to keep them thinking that.

Dawn had stayed out of sight and planned what to do. One lamppost had been standing alluringly right behind the robot and of course she hadn't been able to resist. She had extended her hand and knocked it over with her powers, enjoying the clanging sound it had made when it hit Starscream on the head.

Keeping herself from laughing had been the hardest part, especially when the confused robot had clearly tried so hard to find an explanation to what had happened and just hadn't been able to. Even the human who had been afraid of him, was giving him an odd look.

Dawn had decided not to push her luck and flown a tin can she had found on the ground over their heads, so she could've snuck away while the robot was looking the other way.

Unfortunately she hadn't considered one possibility.

"There! Someone's there!" the man had looked in her direction just as she had sprinted out of cover.

Dawn couldn't believe it. Whose side was he on exactly? Thanks to him, she was now running as fast as she could, around a corner and into a desolate street without an inkling as to what to do.

She could already hear the heavy thudding as the giant robot came after her. It was only a matter of time until he too would turn around the corner and see her. She was pretty sure he would recognize her and the thought didn't ease her mind.

The only thing standing out on the street was a large red and blue truck, and as it caught Dawn's eyes, she noticed a bit of good luck for change. The door was open. She didn't hesitate, knowing it was her only chance, and jumped in, closing the door quickly behind her.

She got down on the floor, trying to make herself as small as she could. Attempting to stay completely silent seemed to be impossible when her heart betrayed her by beating louder than ever. It soon became meaningless, though, as the truck startled her by roaring its engine to life and starting to move on its own.

It took off fast, making Dawn lose her balance. She pulled herself up to the driver's seat and saw that at least they were going away from the pissed off robot. Then her mind returned to the obvious problem.

How was the truck moving? Was it some kind of a police set up? Maybe it was radio controlled and she was going to get arrested for car theft.

"H-hello?" she felt absolutely stupid, but what else could she do? At the speed they were going she couldn't even jump out.

For a moment it was quiet, then a deep, rumbling voice made her flinch. "You are surprisingly calm."

Dawn hesitated. Was that something a police would say? She doubted it. "Who are you?"

"My name is Optimus Prime."

What kind of a name was that? "You… helped me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I would like to ask you something first."

"Um… sure."

"How did you bend that lamppost?"

Dawn froze, suddenly facing the subject she had never spoken to anyone about. She had always feared that the wrong person might find out about the powers she had and she'd be imprisoned and studied like a lab animal.

The dragging silence didn't go unnoticed by her strange savior. "I wish no harm to you", the pleasant baritone voice assured. "I am merely curious. I have never before seen a human do something like that."

For some reason Dawn wanted to trust the voice, though the way he had used the word 'human' seemed odd to her. Maybe the burden she had been carrying alone for so long had become too much for her. She played with her fingers nervously, finally concluding that it was pointless to deny what the other one already knew.

"I can control metal."

"That's…" the voice sounded surprised. "…a useful skill these days."

"Tell me about it", Dawn actually felt a little bit relieved. "It's not even the first time I saw that Starscream creep and judging by the way he was talking to that man, he hasn't improved his personality from the last time."

"You've…" now the mystery voice was sounding really surprised. "How much do you exactly know about the situation?"

Dawn shrugged, though she didn't know why when there was no one there with her. "Not much."

She told Optimus what had happened at the café. He listened quietly, sighing heavily at the end. "You are more caught up in this than is safe for you. Let's just hope Starscream didn't see you properly."

Dawn was worried about something else too. "Do you think he's still coming after me?"

"No, he won't risk having to fight me alone. He'll probably tell no one to avoid the shame."

"I don't get it", Dawn shook her head. "What's your place in all of this? Who are you really?"

"I will show you", the voice promised. "Once I've found a suitable location."

Dawn was getting nervous again. She still didn't know how the car was driving itself and where the owner of the voice was hiding.

"Do you see the mark on the steering wheel?" Optimus asked her and she nodded, looking at it curiously. "It's an Autobot insignia."

"What does it mean?"

"You are safe around anyone with that insignia."

They started slowing down and Dawn saw they had come to a dark junk yard. When they came to a stop, the door opened by itself and Dawn climbed down.

"Stand back", the voice cautioned her. Dawn took a couple of steps back and prepared for anything. Or so she thought.

Dawn could feel her jaw dropping as the truck she had just been in started changing. Right before her disbelieving eyes it transformed into a robot, just like the others she had seen, but even bigger.

"You're one of them", Dawn breathed shocked as the huge robot knelt down in front of her.

"I am the leader of the Autobots."

Dawn didn't know how to react. She had a strong urge to flee, since now she knew why he had found her power so interesting. She just didn't know if he was trying to benefit from it.

She studied the face plates and bright blue optics, noticing the difference to Starscream's red optics. There was still a stubborn voice in the back of her head that wanted her to trust him. She gave in to it just a little bit.

"Okay", she took a deep breath. "I'm still listening."

"Thank you", Optimus nodded and gave her a brief smile. "I will tell you what you want to know."

"How about some basics first. What are you exactly?"

And Optimus told her. She heard all about Cybertron, the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons and Megatron, of whom he especially warned her about.

"If he ever heard of your abilities, he would stop at nothing to get you to either work for them or at least make sure you never could work against them."

"They would kill me", Dawn stated what hadn't been said directly.

"Yes", Optimus said bluntly. "They value no one's life, but their own. Humans are nothing to them."

"How many of them are here, in this city?"

"We don't know."

Dawn scratched the back of her neck thoughtfully. "That's too bad. Obviously I don't want them to find out about me, but…" she placed her hands on her hips in a determined stance. "…if I come across them again, I can't just do nothing when people are getting hurt."

"Like with Starscream just now?" Optimus gave her a quizzical look and Dawn grinned guiltily.

"Erm, that might've been just payback."

Optimus smiled again, warmly this time, though he tried to hide it by turning his head away. "I know a couple of Autobots who would really like you."

Dawn got a thoughtful look again. "I think I'd like to meet them."

"Are you sure?" Optimus asked, serious again. "You might be putting yourself to more danger by coming with me."

"It… I don't know, it just feels right", Dawn shrugged, looking at the Autobot's feet and feeling a little ridiculous. "I have to have these powers for some reason, I might as well try to use them for something good. And... my gut is telling me that I can trust you."

"Besides", she lifted her head to meet the piercing, blue gaze, and a small smirk brightened her face. "You already said I'd be safe around any Autobot, right? So what's there to worry about?"

"Well, there are certain individuals… but never mind that now", Optimus stood back up. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just uh… one thing."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to keep my powers a secret for now, if that's alright?"

"As you wish."

"Thank you", Dawn smiled relieved. "Let's go then."

She watched amazed as Optimus transformed back into a truck, feeling her heart pounding with nervous excitement. If there were such things as life changing moments, the decision to go with him was surely one of them. She couldn't wait to see where that decision would take her.


End file.
